Uranium mononitride (uranium nitride, UN) is an attractive nuclear fuel that is being considered as an alternative to conventional UO2 nuclear fuels due to its higher thermal conductivity and melting point (e.g., temperature tolerance). However, the industrial use of uranium nitride has been limited by a lack of methods for the production of suitably large quantities.
Carbothermic reduction to nitridation (CTR-N) is presently the most commonly used process for producing uranium nitride. However, this process has historically been limited to batch processing techniques due to its use of a breathing furnace, which alternatingly exposes the uranium material to vacuum and various process gases. Such batch processing techniques are typically incompatible with nuclear fuel production facilities. Thus, the use of this process to produce uranium nitride has been limited.